


sleepytowns&cemeteries

by kindly



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M, M/M, Not Phantom Planet Compliant, kwan is a good bro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-10-13 08:59:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10510536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindly/pseuds/kindly
Summary: Senior year. Easy, right? Well, it's supposed to be for Dash. He had a plan, get a scholarship for football or something, hang out with Kwan and Star, maybe get Prom King. What he didn't plan for is to gain a crush... On Danny Fenton of all people...





	1. in which dash gets a crush

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. This is my first posted fic, other then putting it on tumblr.  
> Phantom Planet never happened. Just no.  
> These chapters are also going to vary in length, take it as artistic licensing, if you will.  
> Anyways, enjoy, leave a comment or something if you like. c:

Senior year. It was supposed to be simple enough, yeah? Like Dash was expecting to get a scholarship or two to get him out of this shitty little town and maybe go to prom with Paulina or have a bro date with Kwan to prom. He wasn't really expecting to get some kinda _crush_ on his ( _not so recent but still_ ) long time victim.

 

But **_damn_**.. Fenton looked good.

 

He'd filled out a little more this summer. Dash knew the kid was lanky but the nerd had put on muscle now. Not the flashy kinda muscle that Dash himself had, but like the sinewy kind that you'd expect on a lightweight MMA fighter or a swimmer. It was evident when he was at his broken locker that you had to really pull at and he just… opened it like it was nothing. Dash could see the muscles in his arms working though. Could tell that the shirt he was wearing was a little tight, the jeans he wore stayed nicely around his hips without a belt and he had cut his hair over the summer. No longer just the mess of black inky strands, it was shaved on the sides and the top was let loose like he'd just rolled out of bed. Fenton looked _really good_.

 

Not that Dash was _staring_ at Fen-turd. **_He wasn't_**. 

 

…fuck… Okay, maybe he was staring at him. Kwan was chatting away like Dash _wasn't_ having some kinda existential crisis right now, but he wouldn't blame his best friend for not being a mind reader. He snapped his eyes back to Kwan with a terrified expression that his friend caught almost instantly.

 

"Whoa, Dash. What's wrong? You look like you've seen…" Kwan didn’t dare finish that sentence since they both knew what could/probably would happen if he actually said it. "Are you nervous or something? It's just senior year, dude. Like every other year but we don’t have to come back next year," He spoke with a smile and laid a hand heavily on Dash's shoulder.

 

"I think I'm gay."

 

"What."

 

"For Fenton."

 

".. Okay."


	2. GDIDP

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have also made a playlist for this fic, if anyone is interested. It's on spotify.

"So, part one of ' **Get Dash in Danny's Pants** ' or, as I like to shorten it, GDIDP…" Kwan pauses at Dash's stoic face. "Okay, so I'm still working on the acronym but you get the point," Currently, Dash was sitting on Kwan's bed after school with Kwan writing on a whiteboard on how to deal with Dash's new crush on the loser. "So, you two have history and I think we should address that first, Dash. You bullied him,"

 

"I had anger issues, I get it…" He mumbled and looked at his hands. The callouses on his fingers rubbed together roughly and he wished he was holding a football right now to keep them busy.

 

" ** _Have_** anger issues, Dash," Kwan supplied with a smirk.

 

"I hate you somedays,"

 

"No you don't," Kwan chuckled and began writing on the board. "So first things first," Kwan pointed to bold lettering on the board and Dash almost groaned out loud. " **Gain trust**. Danny and his friends have to tolerate you before you can make any advances on Fenton," Kwan waggles his eyebrows at Dash with a grin. The blonde player almost throws a pillow at him for it.

 

"Okay, I'll bite. How do you think I can get the trust of Fenton and his dorky friends?" Dash sighed and ran a hand through his already messy hair. He ditched that slicked back look in sophomore year and let his hair hang free but not too long now, otherwise the unruly curls would probably blind him.

 

"Sit with him at lunch. Don't call him ' _Fen-turd_ '. Stop saying his sister is ' _a hot piece of ass_ '. Sit next to him in classes you two share. Don't body check Tucker into a locker when you see him," Kwan deadpans at Dash and he can't help the flush that spreads and the lead ball that just dropped into the pit of his gut.

 

"Okay! Okay, I get it.. I'm the all-time douchebag of Casper High… Sheesh," Dash couldn't help but think of how hopeless this was. What if this was only a physical attraction, anyways?

 

Wow, that would be super fucked up. How shallow can he **_get_**?

 

He groans and let's his head fall into his hands, laying across his lap like he folded in half. Dash breaths deep and peeks an eye up at his best friend.

 

"Am I.. Am I really that much of a.. A douchebag?" Dash finds himself asking and knows he doesn't want the answer Kwan will give because Kwan is always truthful with Dash.

 

"You can be," and ouch, yeah that's Dash's heart getting lodged in his throat. "That doesn't mean that we can't get Fenton to see you in a good way,"

 

"What way is that?" Dash sighs out as he tries to think what Kwan is getting at.

 

"The guy that hand-makes teddy bears to give out at the kids ward in the hospital, or the guy that volunteers at the old folks home to help with household tasks they need done. Dash, there is more good to you then you let people think or see,"

 

"Doesn't make me likeable to someone like Danny though if he never knows about it," Dash mumbles and then his brain does a horrible, horrible thing to him. It gives him an idea. "What if.."

 

"No. Stop. Don't think about telling Danny yourself about those things, you'll seem like you're trying too hard. Let's start with something small. Try to call him 'Danny' to his face, okay?" Kwan holds his hands up in a peaceful way, like dealing with a skittish animal.

 

"Yeah, fine," Dash agreed. Kwan gave him a look. "Whatever, it's fine, okay?"

\----------

 

Dash didn't talk to Danny the next day. Or the one after that. Or after that day either. Kwan cornered him by his locker at lunch that Friday with a look and one hand on Dash's shoulder.  The quarterback gave a wheezy laugh and glanced at his oldest friend warily.

 

"Hey, Kwan.. What-what do you need?" He stumbled his words as Kwan's hand tightened on his shoulder, fingers digging slightly into his collarbone.

 

"Why have you not talked to Danny yet? You better do it next period…" His friend was looking at him with a deceptively happy look. Kwan had that ability to look completely innocent while being undoubtedly evil. _Must be something he got from his mom_ , Dash thought to himself.

 

"I-I was gonna!" Dash protested a little too loudly, if the people looking over curiously was anything to go by. "I just wanted to make sure that I…" He paused for a moment, picking at a notebook page sticking out of his binder. "I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t **_just_** physical, okay?" He confessed and the hand stopped gripping so tightly. Kwan sighed out softly and brought his other hand up to Dash's other shoulder.

 

"Hey, you are not that shallow, man," Kwan's words felt solid, physical in a way that Dash's could never be. "You're not."

 

"Sure, man. You say that after I've been dating the hottest girl in school the past 3 years because she said we were the best looking people in school," Dash mutters as the bell rings for the end of lunch, half the sentence gets lost in the tinny of an electric bell. Kwan shakes his head anyways and leads them both down the hall to their class.

 

Lancer was still their teacher and for the life of him, Dash couldn't figure out why the teacher moved up with the class. It wasn't like there weren't other teachers for this school, or that the school had such a low population. Dash thought it was because he became attached with all the attacks on students that he wanted or needed to see this class through to the end.

 

"Come in, come in.. Don't be late again, Mr. Fenton," He called out as Dash found a desk with two seats right before Danny scrambled in as the bell rang again. The blonde looked to his left, thinking Kwan would be there but the Asian had found a seat next to Danny's goth friend and waved as Danny took the seat next to Dash warily.

 

"Is there no other seat?" Dash didn't mean to say it out loud. Really. The look that Danny sent him chilled him to his spine and Dash looked away.

 

"Believe me, if there **was** another seat, _I'd take it_ ," Danny mumbled as he pulled out a battered notebook. This was only the first week of school, how could his notebook be so battered already? Dash sulked into the back of his chair and wished the floor to swallow him up.

 

Lancer continued on like Dash wasn't having some kind of crisis in his mind four seats from the white board.


	3. cheshire cat smiles

"Oh, and these seats are where you'll be all year," Lancer called as the final bell rang out for the day. "Get used to your desk-mate. They'll be your partner for every project," Some people were happy. Some were not.

 

Dash was going to go home and hang himself from the second story landing.

 

"That's what I get for being late, I guess," He heard Danny mumble under his breath and Dash wanted to just slink away and hide under something heavy. Maybe something that would lead to inevitable death. Was there a Ghost Portal somewhere that he could fling himself into?

 

Danny was looking at him now. Danny was speaking to him. What was Danny saying?

 

"-ash. Dash. Come on, I know you don't care about _your_ grades, but I do. I need your number if we're going to be partners for every project," Danny crossed his arms as he stood from the plastic chair. Dash stared at him for a moment before writing his number on a paper and ripping the page in his notebook to hand the digits to the slender boy. "Thanks," though the way that Danny said it sounded like he was anything **but** thankful for the blondes number. "See you around, I guess,"

 

"Later, Danny," Dash finally spoke as the raven haired teen was walking out the door. He paused for a moment to give Dash a weird look, like an almost smile before he just kept walking.

 

Dash sat there in his seat until it got awkward. And by that, he meant Lancer asked if he was going to stay all day or get to football practice. Dash obviously left the room but not before he caught Lancers amused smirk as he left.

\----------

 

Kwan clapped a hand on Dash's back and the blonde was so startled that he leapt forward and banged his head into his still closed locker.

 

"Fuck!" He exclaimed and Kwan laughed. "What the hell, man?" he gripped his forehead in his palms and squatted down on the linoleum floor of the locker room. "That fuckin' hurt,"

 

"I'm sorry, bro. You were in your own world, practice started like five minutes ago," Kwan bent down to Dash's level and looked at him closely. "So, did you talk to him?"

 

"Not anything good…" Dash admitted. "I asked if there were any other open seats…" Kwan sucked a breath through his perfect teeth and Dash frowned.

 

"Okay… We can deal with this. Sam and I got along pretty well, so… We'll go from another angle, yeah?"

 

"Sure. I guess it can't get much worse…" Dash conceded and stood for football practice. "Let's go,"

\----------

 

It got worse on Monday. Mid-afternoon, if you were keeping track. Gym class. He shared that with Sam and Danny, Kwan was in AP Calculus at this time so Dash was content to stick to himself during the 60 minute class before lunch.

 

Well at least he was planning on being by himself until Sam Manson came up to the blonde during the class and proceeded to tell him that she was going to help with the plan.

 

"What are you talking about?" Dash tried to brush her off while they were running the track. He was running at a set pace to not tire himself out and Sam was keeping pace, much to his surprise.

 

"To woo my best friend, duh," She stated matter-of-factly and Dash missed a step and tumbled a bit but caught himself and kept running, upping the speed to get away from the goth chick. "I know cause Kwan told me,"

 

"Fucking dead to me," Dash mutters and Sam laughs like she heard him. He glances at the girl with a frown.

 

"Danny likes space," She tells him and Dash feels more confused than anything. "You know, NASA, planets and stars,"

 

"Uhm, okay? Why're you telling me this?" Dash turns the corner and he catches the back of Danny's tight fitting dark gray shirt as he's running ahead of the two. He's got headphones in and Dash can see a small sweat stain starting at the collar of his shirt. The shorts are loose around his legs but tight where it counts. In the way that Dash can see how toned Danny's ass is now. Dash always was an ass guy. 

 

"You could use the insider information, I assume," Sam looks smug and Dash scowls but begrudgingly agrees with her. She grins up at him with purple lips and white teeth and Dash just shrugs her off before she can see into his soul or something like that.

 

For all he knew, she was some kind of witch… she smiled like a Cheshire Cat anyways.


	4. Sam Manson is also a good bro?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: that these are not real phone numbers. c:

**+1 (651) 378-0091**

**new photo message**

 

Dash looked at his phone like it was possessed and carefully picked it up to look at the message. Was it Danny? He hadn't gotten his number last Friday. He opened the text and then promptly closed his phone. Kwan came up to him a second later and laughed a bit.

 

"Why're you so red? Get a dirty pic?" Dash could only make a noise and felt his neck heat up with a blush. "Holy shit, really?" He grabbed at Dash's phone and the blonde couldn’t even fight him. His friend opened the phone with the memorized lock-code and checked the message himself before busting out laughing.

 

"Stop laughing!" Dash exclaimed and grabbed his phone back. "Who would be sending me this?"

 

"Dude! It's just a picture of Fenton sleeping without a shirt," Kwan laughed at his friend and pulled out his phone, opening it and checking his contacts. "Yeah, that's Sam's number,"

 

"How would Sam even have my number?" Dash squinted his eyes at Kwan. "Also, she **_fucking knows_**. She knows, **Kwan**. How could she know, **Kwan**?" His friend at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed.

 

"I asked her what Danny liked to do, you know? To get some info, but she started questioning me. She's intimidating, dude," Dash couldn't fault him for that, he guessed. Sam was a force to be reckoned with. He gave a heavy sigh and looked at his phone again before closing it and shoving it in a pocket.

 

"It's fine, I guess. Let's just… get through class, okay?" Dash grabbed his book and headed to Lancer's classroom, thankful it was the last of the day. He walked in and Danny was already in his seat.

 

Dash stood still in the doorway like he was waiting for something to happen. Like Danny to look up and smile at him, or something cheesy like in those romance novels his mom tried to keep hidden from his dad. Instead, he was bumped into as Sam walked into the room to her seat next to Kwan. She gave the blonde football player a smirk as she passed and Dash noted the change to blood red lipstick today.

 

He shook himself and walked to his seat as Lancer started class.

 

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

 

**+1 (651) 378-0091 (goth chick sam)**

**u like tha pic?**

 

Dash resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the message and instead pulled his phone under the desk to type a reply.

 

**+1 (651) 776-4271**

**stop bugging me**

**+1 (651) 378-0091 (goth chick sam)**

**never. hah. now i have ur # lol**

 

Dash was going to kill Kwan. He was going to-

 

**+1 (651) 378-0091 (goth chick sam)**

**new photo message**

 

Dash was going to **_kiss_** Sam and Kwan. The photo that Sam sent this time was of Danny sitting on top of a picnic table. He was laughing at something that Dash would never know and he had reddened cheeks. His eyes were half lidded and his lips red from the slushy cup in his hand that Dash assumed he'd been drinking from. Danny had been wearing a tank top, cut on the sides to show off hard working stomach muscles, his ribs were defined in a way that Dash had never thought to think about sexily before. He wondered for a moment about the amount of scars on Danny's skin that he could see before he noticed the jeans that Danny wore in this picture were torn on the left knee and he could see a scar behind the denim hole just barely.

 

Dash chanced a glance back at Sam and Kwan's table to see them both taking notes diligently. Sam looked up at that moment with a smirk and he saw the phone in her lap as she was texting without even looking at the screen. Dash was terrified and impressed at the same time.

 

**+1 (651) 378-0091 (goth chick sam)**

**want more? tell me tha plan**

 

The woman was **evil**. She knew it too.

 

Dash flipped her off behind Danny's chair.

\----------

 

 "This place is a dump," Dash scowled as he was sat on his unmade bed, Kwan sitting on his desk chair backwards. They were both watching as Sam explored Dash's room with a keen disinterest. Her ruby painted nails matched the lipstick and Dash was acutely aware of whatever she touched with them.

 

His mom told him to never trust a woman that wore lipstick colored like blood.

 

"You've said so like five times before," Dash groaned out at the girl and she glanced at his with the same look of keen disinterest as if he was just another object in his own room. He probably was to her. "Why did you even want to come over if all you wanted to do was talk shit about my place?"

 

"I need to know how bad of a plan you two numbskulls came up with to try and win Danny over," She smiled wickedly and Dash felt his anger rise at it. Kwan was the first one to the white board that was stashed behind Dash's desk.

 

"This is what I came up with so far," He told Sam as Dash squawked out a 'hey!' at the exclusion of him. He had helpfully added 'planetarium' to the bottom of the list of ' _things Danny likes that we know of_ '. Sam looked it over with a fine eye to details and crossed out at least two things on the list of ' _things Danny likes that we know of_ '.

 

"Don't talk about ghosts around him unless he talks about it first, and don't mention Phantom either," She said as she wiped them off the list. Dash wanted to know why he wasn't allowed to talk about those two things specifically when Danny's parents were ghost hunters but didn't ask for fear of getting the 'Look' from Sam. 

 

"What _can_ I talk to him about then?" Dash asked in a voice that, he hoped, came across as disinterested in the conversation. When Sam looked at him, he knew he had failed that.

 

"Talk about how you actually **_do_** care about your grades. You can't be in the football team with straight D's across the board. I know you have to be smarter than you look, Dash," Sam told them with a flat look and Dash couldn't hold the stare.

 

"Why're you doing this, Goth Chick?" Dash couldn't hold back the sneer that spilled across his face and worried for a moment what Sam's reply would be until she just smirked at him and tucked a long strand of inky hair behind an ear that Dash would have sworn had piercings. For a goth chick, she didn't have many 'body modifications' as he had expected of someone like her. Sam had facial piercings, two on her lower lips and a hoop through the left side of her nose. Dash frowned and kept his violet eyes on her.

 

"I have my reasons," She sounded sure of herself and Dash felt a chill go down his spine when she leveled a look on him. "I may or may not deem it needed to tell _you_ guys though. Call it a favor for now, I'll just collect later, yeah?"

 

Kwan and Dash stayed quite for a moment and that was all it took for Sam to take her cue and start talking about how to get Danny to pay attention to him without physical violence.

 

"So you are basically a ball of rage and curly blonde hair," Sam tells him with a smirk and Dash just frowns at her for the moment. "But we can work with this. Danny can be the same way a lot of the time too. You just don't know it yet,"

 

"How can we use his anger to get Danny to like him?" Kwan was talking like Dash wasn't right there and the blonde made a face as he turned from Kwan, his blonde curls falling in front of his eyes a bit.

 

"You just haven't gotten angry at the right things, in Danny's eyes you're just a bully," Sam looked right at him and folded her hands together as she spoke.

 

"Yeah. We've been _over that_ already. I'm a horrible guy that doesn't actually deserve someone like Danny Fenton, I have little redeeming qualities **_and_** I'm a closet case," he exclaimed with a loud sigh as he laid back against his bed, pillows catching his fall with a 'thump'. Dash stared up at the ceiling fan spinning lazily and waited for the silence to be broken. Two minutes passed ( _he actually counted them out_ ) before he looked back at Sam and Kwan. "What?"

 

"This is why I'm helping you," Sam spoke softly. "Seeing you like this lets me know that you actually have emotions and can see Danny as a person and not a 'loser' or someone lesser than yourself,"

 

"Whatever," Dash scoffs and Sam just smiles lightly at him.


	5. weird feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's short, i'm sorry XP

**+1 (651) 378-0091 (goth chick sam)**

**wat u doing 2nite?**

**+1 (651) 776-4271**

**Y?**

**+1 (651) 378-0091 (goth chick sam)**

**got an idea. meet @ nasty burger 8pm**

\----

 

7:48. Okay, so Dash was kind of early. He was sat in a booth of this disgusting place and wondering why it was the best burger place in town when **_it_** happened. Something exploded or got blown up and suddenly there was a ghost attacking people.

 

The quarterback was quick to hide under a table as rubble started falling from the ceiling. Hopefully this place would be torn down one day and a new burger place… _Now was not the time_ , Dash thought to himself as he finally saw the ghost that was attacking. Over the years, names had surfaced for these ghosts and Dash, having a healthy interest in Phantom ( _not obsession, thank you Kwan_ ) could name almost every ghost that attacked.

 

This was not what he had expected when he made his way to Nasty Burger. He honestly didn't know what he expected but, he also doubted that Sam could engineer a ghost attack and have it help with a plan to get Danny to like Dash. Weirder things have happened but he didn't want this to be one of those times.

 

Dash only dared to look up when Phantom showed up to beat this ghost to a pulp. Over the years, Phantom had changed too, Dash thought about it now as he had the chance to look.

 

Phantom's hair was shaved on the sides, still a bright white to his pale( ** _dead_** ) skin tone. Somewhere along the way he had also gotten some small gauges on his ears, not the only thing on his 'uniform' to change though. He had a jumpsuit still but it was half covered by the sleeveless hoodie he wore over his torso now.

 

Dash thought it looked like something that he would wear himself. Phantom had changed his gloves up too. They now looked like fingerless gloves, almost as white as his hair. There was more skin showing now, almost the entire length of his arms on display for the world to ogle at.

 

Not that Dash was the type to ogle at some guys good looking arms. Really.

 

"Ugh, not you again," Phantom had a bored tone as he got a look at the ghost causing the commotion. "Look, you're new around here so I'm just gonna let you know, I've got better things to do then fight you ghosts these days. Also Skulker should have got you before slipping the portal…" he mumbled that last part and Dash almost didn't catch it.

 

Skulker was the hunter ghost. He had wanted to hunt Phantom to add to his collection of rare specimens and called Phantom a 'halfa' on more then one occasion. Dash had wondered what that meant for the longest time. Figured it was some kind of ghost slang that Skulker used to irritate Phantom. Late at night though, he thought about Phantom being half human and he was terrified for the Phantom if that was the case.

 

Could you imagine going through life half **dead**?

 

When Dash turned his attention back to Phantom, the fight was about over. He had grabbed the thermos to capture the wayward soul and Dash only thought it weird that he used ghost tech against ghosts since he was a ghost himself. Phantom was quick about battles now and Dash was slightly grateful that now he could actually get out of this place and not worry about a stray ecto-beam hitting him.

 

He notices Sam pull up in her car right as Phantom flies away.

 

"Get in loser," She smirks at him and Dash ignores her for a moment to see if it annoys her. "Dash, we're going to educate you on Danny Fenton," Sam is smirking as he spots a baffled Tucker in the passenger seat and groans as he slides in the back with Kwan. He wasn't too happy about another person knowing but well.. He couldn't deny he needed the help.

\----------

 

Loath as he was to admit it, Tucker was actually helpful. He knew things that only a guy best friend would know and Dash was grateful he was helping. Like that Danny was bisexual, but he preferred dudes. Dash wasn't about to get his hopes up yet because Tucker had said that Danny seemed to like older guys rather than guys their age. 

 

" ** _Fuck_**. So you're telling me I have, like, no chance with Danny?" Tucker shrinks away from Dash as he gives out a groan of annoyance. "I'm not gonna hit you, Foley,"

 

"Sorry, old habits," the tech geek shrugs with a sheepish smile on his face and Dash can't blame him. He just pushes his hair out of his face with a small headband. His little cousin had been by for a visit with his aunt earlier this month and she forgot it in Dash's room. He's taken to using it when doing his homework lately.

 

"What're you wearing, Dash?" Sam looks all too happy to see the headband. The blonde can't help a deep sigh as he glances at her taking a picture of him.

 

"It's my little cousins headband. She left it here and my hairs getting long. It's in the way when I study,"

 

" ** _You_** study?" A sharp glance at Tucker shuts him up and Kwan let's out a loud laugh.

 

"Seriously though. It helps keep my hair out of my face," Dash feels tired. He wants to be done with this. Stress and senior year, figuring out colleges he should have applied to last year and trying to find scholarships for something he was kinda good at… well, let's just say that Dash would be happy to get out of high school alive, at the very least.

 

"Want a haircut?" Sam smirks at him and Dash can't help but be suspicious of the goth.

 

"Uhm…" he falters for a second.

 

"Oh, she's good, Dash. She gave Danny that new cut this year," Kwan pipes up and the blonde feels slightly betrayed at the comment and easy smile Kwan had on his face. "What? We talk during class about you and Danny," he shrugs like it's nothing.

 

"Uhm… moving on from that…" Dash looks to Tucker, who also looks a little betrayed, and he just shares a look with Dash.

 

The blonde feels like they got a bit closer through that glance. Like they bonded over how weird their friends were about Dash liking Danny.

 

It was a weird feeling that Dash didn't want to experience again. No offense, Tucker.


	6. when in doubt, run away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i did post this on saturday, like i wanted, and i can't post this weekend either since i will be in denver,co for a con. but yeah, here it is y'all. enjoy <3

"Are you stealing my friends?" Dash nearly jumps out of his skin, for the _second_ time that day, at the voice. He was sure that no one would be at school this early, Dash himself usually wasn't here this early either but his car had issues starting last night so his dad gave him a ride and told him to get Kwan to drop him off after school _\- or something like that_ , he'd said.

 

"What're you talking about?" Dash instantly put up his defenses as he turned to face his crush. Danny was still shorter then Dash, but he made up his intimidation points with the stance he'd taken. Danny stood there, looking down his nose at the blonde, hands shoved into the front pocket of his dark hoodie and his feet firmly planted. He looked like he was ready to fight.

 

"Don't play stupid, Dash. They've been dodging me lately and I **know** that Sam has been talking to you and Kwan lately," he frowns at Dash now but it looks more like a cute pout than anything intimidating. "What're you doing to them?"

 

"Okay, what. It's not like I invited them to hang with me and Kwan-"

 

"Kwan and I," Danny interrupted with a smirk.

 

" _Kwan and I._ Sam just kinda… invited herself to mess with me," Dash realizes after he said it that this was _probably_ not the best way to phrase it. He figured he would just go with it though. Own up to it as Danny gave him the most flabbergasted look Dash could imagine on him.

 

"You and Sam?" Eyebrows raised and Dash felt attraction to that movement. This was when he decided that he wouldn't own shit. His brain started malfunctioning and the only thing that Dash could think of was ' _Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!_ '

 

"Uh," the blonde hoped that he wasn't implying what he thought Danny was implying. "No, nononono," he glances away for a second. " ** _No_** , nope,"

 

"Hey, it's kinda my business if you date my friend," Danny looked amused. This was not how Dash pictured the day going.

 

"No, seriously. We **_aren't_** dating,"

 

"Okay, hooking up or friends with benefits. Whatever," Danny shrugged and Dash felt a lead weight settle in his stomach.

 

"It's not like that," Dash ground out through his teeth and bit his bottom lip. The raven haired boy looked unconvinced and Dash felt his chest tighten in response. "I don't even _like_ girls that way right now,"

 

"…"

 

"…."

 

Silence stretched on for a moment. Then two. Then three.

 

Dash turns from Fenton and walks away.

\---------

 

Walking is always calming. Let's you think about things. Let's you relive your mistakes. That's why when Dash got outside of the school grounds, he started running. 

 

He passed by Star and Paulina, both chatting away with each other about some girl thing he didn't care about. Kwan walking up to the school and greeted Dash but the blonde just ignored him and kept going.

 

Running away from his problems sounded pretty good at the moment. Didn't matter that his parents would kill him for missing school or that he had a test before lunch today. It also didn't matter that he needed to be at football practice today because there were some scouts coming by for an early look at the seniors.

 

Nothing mattered after he outed himself to Danny.

 

" **Fuck**. Fuckshitfuck. I'm so stupid," Dash found himself mumbling to himself as he crashed through the small forest like area to the park. No one actually knew why there was this forest like area here but Dash wasn't going to complain if he could just get lost forever in it and never be found.

 

A mom pushing along a stroller looked at him weirdly and he realized that he was still wearing the letterman jacket. Dash quickly shrugs it off and shoves it in his backpack. He doesn't know if truancy officers are like something real or made up by parents to scare you, but he doesn’t want to find out.

 

He feels his phone going off in his bag so he grabs it and sees an unknown number.

 

He declines the call.

 

He turns off his phone.

 

Dash feels like the silence after that was a little too deafening so he turns his phone back on. It starts vibrating again as a call comes through and he declines it again.

 

Dash shoves his phone back in his back pack and sits heavily on the ground, his back against the bark of a tree and his ass in the dirt. The tree is scraping in that one spot between his shoulder blades uncomfortably but Dash could care less about that right now.

 

He pulls his knees up to his chest for a moment before he sets his elbows on them and his hands in his curled hair. Dash takes a deep breath and sucks his bottom lip between his teeth before he completely loses his _freakin_ ' mind. He can hear his phone buzzing and all he wants to do is throw it against the opposite tree. His skin prickles with something like unease or maybe he just feels like his skin is coming off. Like a layer of defense just went down and now people can just march right into his mind.

 

It makes Dash want to throw up. He doesn't though because he's better then that.

 

He turns the phone to face him.

 

' _bzz-_ ** _bzz_** _-bzzt_ ' 

 

Dash holds up his phone and sees the missed calls and texts from the unknown.

 

14 missed calls, 5 new texts.

 

Another call comes through. Dash feels a growl building up in his chest and answers this time.

 

"-I swear to **god,** Dash if you don't pick up the phone right now and talk to me I will throw your ass in a Ghost Portal when I find you!" Dash doesn't even get a word in as he hears Danny's muttering on the other line. "And I know it's not ideal, but this isn't the worst thing to happen when outing yourself, trust me,"

 

"What's the worst then?" There's a pause in the line, like Danny didn't know that Dash picked up that time.

 

"Whuuh?" Danny slurs into the phone and Dash can hear footsteps in the background. "Uh, well…"

 

"Thought so…" Dash mumbles and let's the phone drop from his ear a bit. "Look, Fen-Danny… I know you think you're helping but please leave me alone,"

 

"Nope, no can do," he chirps out and Dash sighs loudly.

 

"Why?"

 

"Sam would _kill_ me. She's fond of you now, you know?" The line crackles a bit as Danny talks.

 

"What?"

 

"She's, like, thinking of you as a friend. So since you walked away- _ran away really_ , she saw that and saw I was the one talking to you and cornered me. **_Bullied_** me into following you… except…" Danny pauses and so do the footsteps that Dash heard. "I think I'm lost,"

 

"You're so stupid…" Dash can't help the laugh, _more like giggle_ , that escapes him as he can hear Danny squawk about being lost in the forest forever.

 

"Okay, yeah. So we can talk about how pathetic I am while I stay lost in this… **_why_** do we have a forest area? Or we can maybe find me and talk about what happened?"

 

Dash feels the air leave his lungs like a sucker punch. His heart hammers away against his chest and he's pretty sure that Danny can hear it too.

 

"I-I'll come find you but I'd rather not talk about… about **it**. Are we cool?"

 

"Ice cold, Dash. We don't have to," that simple phrase let Dash breath again and he set his forehead on a denim covered knee for a moment to think. "Maybe we can make it back to school by lunch… I hear it's a meat-surprise-loaf today?"

 

"That sounds gross," Dash comments as he stands up from the dirt.

 

"Yeah, yeah, it really does… maybe we'll skip lunch then…"


	7. heavy as a ghost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah, okay. so it's an update, y'all.   
> tbh, more ppl than i thought like this stuff.   
> i'd like to say that i do plan on updating, but with my move from New Mexico to Washington state, i'm a bit backed up. just know, that i read and love all comments. thank you guys soooo much for the kudos and love. <3  
> enjoy as always. c:

"You know, I'm surprised you didn't just drive off in that rust bucket of a car you have, Dash,"

 

"Hey! You take that back," Dash called out with a laugh and pushed at Danny's shoulder. The raven haired boy stiffened just enough for Dash to catch on and the blonde immediately pulled his hand away. "Sorry,"

 

"Nah, it's just a habit…" Danny looked uneasily at the ground as they stood there for a growingly uncomfortable amount of time.  

 

"Yeah… that's what I'm sorry about…" Dash mumbles and keeps walking, leaving Danny to catch up if he so wanted. Dash wasn't holding onto that hope much though. Dash knew what he was and what his chances were when he was alone with the raven haired boy. He wasn't charming like Kwan and he didn't have a good history like Sam or Tucker did with Danny, _obviously_.

 

"Dash, wait up," the blonde boy looked back at the raven haired teen as he took the few steps to catch up. "You… you really did change this summer, huh?" Danny smiles and Dash melts just that little bit.

 

"Well… yeah. I like to think so and my therapist tells me I have so-"

 

" **You** go to therapy?" Danny interrupts with a weird sort of grin and Dash grits his teeth a bit.

 

"Yeah," he manages to not yell it at Danny. Only growl. His therapist says that even small progress is **_still_** progress. "I have anger management… I'm still… still working on it,"

 

"Obviously," Danny smirks and Dash resists the urge to hit his crush.

 

"You're not making it easy, Fenton," Dash growled out with a small frown. He glances at the shorter male and sees him thinking for a moment.

 

"Back to Fenton? Damn, was getting used to hearing my name from you," he comments and shrugs. Dash stares at the boy until Danny notices.

 

_Don't make it awkward_ , Dash thinks to himself. He's still staring tho and now Danny is reaching a hand up to his own face in confusion.

 

"Do I have something on my face?" the raven haired boy looks away from Dash for a bit and he can see the blush on Danny's face.

 

"Oh, uhm, no. You look good," Dash knows that now is a good time to insert his foot in his mouth so he turns himself bodily away from Danny, fists knotting together at his sides as he tries to control the embarrassment he feels. It settles heavily in his chest when he realizes that Danny hasn't even said anything yet and he peeks back over his shoulder at the shorter boy.

 

"Thanks," Danny has this weird look on his face, like something halfway between a smile and a frown. Dash knows what that face feels like.

 

"Yeah, uh, no problem?" Dash shrugs the feeling away and starts trudging back to school. He can hear Danny crashing along behind him and winces when he hears a fall. He glances back at the raven and cracks a smile. "You good back there?"

 

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, don't mind me," he can hear the chuckle in the voice, trying to sound convincing and failing. "I'm just not used to, uh, hiking I guess," Dash considers telling Danny that this isn't really hiking since they're maybe a half mile from the school and in a park, but he decided not to let the boy know that.

 

"Come on then," Dash sticks out a hand to grab as Danny stumbles again. The raven had managed to fall into Dash's back though, not on his face thankfully. The blonde boy turns and watches Danny's reaction to the extended hand warily and starts to take it back before he feels the cool hand in his. "Let's get going," he turns away from Danny and makes sure to pull him along slightly, keeping the boy in his trail through the 'woods'.

 

It's an awkward silence as Dash leads Danny out of the trees, hand in ( _colder_ ) hand. The darker haired teen still stumbles, like he's not used to working legs or something, Dash thinks with a furrowed brow.

 

"I didn't know you were this… _nice_ , Dash," he hears the soft voice behind him and Dash takes a moment to actually answer the boy.

 

"I'm not really," he confesses. "I'm still the same guy who beat you up in freshman year. I still laugh when someone drops their books or trips going up the stairs only to fall down again," he shrugs his shoulders slightly and hitches his backpack higher on his shoulders. "I'm not happy with it though… not happy in this town or with how my life is turning out. I want to be _better_ ," he can see the parking lot now coming into view and holds Danny's hand just a bit tighter so he can remember this. "I wanna be _worth_ something, you know?"

 

They both stopped for a moment and Dash had the distinct feeling of fluttering in his ribcage, like a million moths just started to fly about. He felt a bit like he'd probably overshared, especially when he'd looked back at Danny and the boy was just sort of… staring at Dash. The look on his face made Dash feel like his skin was being pulled away from him so he was laid bare. Just _bones_ and _moths_.

 

"Sorry… that was probably… too heavy, huh?" the football player felt his face flush, bringing a hand to tangle in his curly hair, Dash chuckled and turned away from Danny. The butterflies in his stomach rampaged and he could only take a deep breath. He wished they would stop, it wasn't like the damn things were paying rent anyways.

 

"You don't know half of the heavy stuff I deal with, Dash. Yours is… _normal_ …" The raven haired teen walked ahead of Dash and he could only watch the slender shoulders move slightly with a sigh. "Try dealing with ghost hunting parents, and a portal to the ghost world under your floor. Or a sister that has to be a mother to her younger brother, an eccentric 'family friend' that has a lust for you mom and wants your dad out of the picture? It's weird, man. Really, _really_ weird," Dash saw the wry smile on Danny's face and couldn't help the laugh.  

 

"Yeah, wow. You got some weird shit going on, man," Dash shrugged and shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. Danny looks back with a smirk and winks at the blonde as they both start walking again.

 

"You've no idea, Baxter. No idea,"

**Author's Note:**

> come bug me on tumblr too! i make mood boards for characters when i get bored, c:
> 
> http://kindly-creatot.tumblr.com/


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